Berserk
by Captain-Sherlock-Who
Summary: After being framed for her mothers murder, Annabeth gets sent to a mental institution. She's convinced that she was framed even though she can only remember bits and pieces of the night it happened. Can Annabeth put together the shattered pieces of her past? Rated for mental illness stuff. AU
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

**Annabeth's POV**

_The blood slowly drips from the knife and onto the floor, staining the white carpet. The body that lies before me gasps for air as it tries desperately to speak to me. But the words don't process in my brain as I examine the room around me. Not a thing seems out of place, the family photos are perched perfectly on the wall; the white couch sits in the corner with the colorful owl pillows on each side, the all of the books on the bookshelf are sloppily thrown onto it. The only thing that seems off is the blood on the carpet that spills from the body that lies on the floor. I suppose I should tell you that the body is a lady and that lady happens to be my mother, but that's not the point, well not yet anyways. _

_Anyways, the ladies lips slowly move as she tries to speak to me but I appear to be frozen in place. I already know how I look, my curly blonde hair spirals down my back, my face is pale, my grey eyes, harsh and cold, one of my hands lies limply by my side while the other is out in front of me; holding a bloody knife. Small droplets of blood cover my clothes and my pale skin. Short shaky breaths escape my dry lips as I stare blankly ahead at the tan walls. _

_I don't know how long I stand there for but when my father returns home from work, my mother is no longer breathing. He screams at me and sobs over her body but I still do not hear anything and I am still unable to move. _

_When I finally unfreeze, my brother Malcom is hugging me. I'm dressed in fresh clothes and in the backseat of our car. "Dad! It wasn't her!" Malcom yells at our father who ignores him, buckets of tears pouring down his face that has been drained of any good emotion. _

_I gasp as flashes of memories come flooding into my brain. A man with a ski mask… his eyes a murky brown… he puts the knife in my hands… but then he's gone… and my mother lies on the floor dead. _

"_What is it Annie?" Malcom asks. _

_As much as I hate the nickname he gave me when I was four, I ignore it and tell him about the sudden burst of images that had been forced into my brain. _

_Malcom tries to convince my father that I'm telling the truth but ever since my father found me holding that knife over my mother's body, he grew a sudden hatred towards me. It had made me feel like I lost both of my parents rather than one. It seemed like the only person I had left was Malcom. _

_While I sat in the car with Malcom's arm thrown around my shoulder, the images kept replaying in my head. _"You better watch your back kid…" _I remember the mysterious man telling me. _"Because I'll be back and I'll do a lot worse than killing your mother."

* * *

A scream escaped my lips as I sat up in my bed, gasping for air. My roommate Piper quietly got down from the top bunk and handed me a glass of water, making me take small sips until I had finally calmed down. She was used to me screaming in the middle of the night so it no longer bothered her. I still felt terrible for waking her up but she always tried to assure me that she didn't mind.

"Do you want to talk about it?" She asked in her normal sweet voice. I shook my head back and forth not wanting to meet her eyes. Tears fell down my face as I leaned against her shoulder; she put her arm around me and patted my back in a comforting manner.

"I didn't do it," I sobbed, thinking back to my dream. The sad part is, that my dream was true, every night I would get a different nightmare, sometimes it would be memories and other times it would just be my imagination playing tricks on me. Piper nodded and put her other arm around me, pulling me in for a hug.

"I believe you," she whispered. "I don't think you would be capable of killing someone." Piper was the only person other than my brother who believed that I didn't do it. My father hated me, as soon as he came home from work that night and found me holding that bloody knife over my mother, he sent me to a mental hospital. He didn't want me sleeping under the same roof as Malcom and himself. I've been here for five years now. Piper has been here for six and she knows what it's like to have your parents hate you. Her mother left her father for another man. When her mother left, Pipers father started doing drugs and became one of those typical partying stars. Piper began to steal and her father took her here, not wanting her anymore.

Malcom came to visit me once a week, every Sunday. He would tell me all about dad and how he was remarried and had two more kids with Helen. I was glad that my father had gotten over my mother but it hurt that he still hadn't forgiven me for something that I did not do.

I didn't sleep for the rest of the night, wanting to escape the nightmares. Instead I lied on the bottom bunk and wrote another email- that would never get sent- to my father, just like I did every other night that I had a nightmare. I had over two thousand emails in my drafts. I just liked to pretend like my father didn't hate me and that my mother was still alive and that I was away on a high school trip. I liked to pretend that everything was how it should be. I liked trapping myself in my little fantasy because for a couple minutes, it would actually seem like that was how things actually were. But then reality would come back and slap me in the face, telling me that my father hates me and nothing about my life would ever be normal.

In the morning, one of my case managers- Chiron -came into the room that I share with Piper, telling me that I had a visitor. So I slowly followed Chiron down to the office where a familiar girl with short choppy black hair and electric blue eyes sat on the wooden bench. "Thalia?" I asked, staring in shock at my best friend that I hadn't seen since I "killed" my mother, which happened to be five years ago when I was ten.

"Hi Annabeth," she says before awkwardly standing up and throwing her arms around my neck. I stand with my arms limply at my sides.

"Why are you here now?" I ask, not really knowing if I should be angry with her or not. "You haven't tried to see me before."

Thalia stares down at her feet, her hair falling into her eyes. "I was scared to face you. I mean you were going through a rough time and still are. I was stupid and should have been there for you instead of cowering away. I'm sorry."

"I forgive you," I say, pressing my lips tightly together.

A smile covers her pale freckled face as she wraps her arms around me again. "So, tell me what's been happening since I left. I mean, Malcom only tells me family stuff."

"Well Grover is dating Juniper. And my brother is now besties with Nico for some odd reason. And well, Luke finally asked me out on a date…" And then we start talking as if nothing had changed. I told her all about my life here and she told me about everything I've missed. It felt so normal just being with Thalia.

About an hour later Thalia left with the promise that she would return soon. I didn't want her to leave, I missed my old life but I knew that I wouldn't ever get it back.

* * *

I exhaled loudly as I sat down on the blue plastic chair, taking my seat next to Piper and Leo Valdez. There weren't very many people in the small group but it felt like too many people to be there that you had to spill your emotions out to. There was Piper (the kleptomaniac), Leo (the pyromaniac), Calypso (she has OCD), Frank (he has paranoia), and Hazel (she has multiple personality disorder). Those five people had been my friends since the moment that I arrived. The weird thing is that I felt as if I actually belonged with them. They didn't shut me out like my father had.

Chiron took his seat next to Hazel and Calypso. "So, how are you all feeling today? Calypso, why don't you start us off?"

"Gladly," the small girl said happily. She had always been the optimist of the group, she had a positive attitude and was always hyper, making it seem like she drank way to much coffee. "I'm feeling happy today. My father came to see me today and it always makes me glad to see him and know that he still cares."

I bite my bottom lip, suppressing the urge to cry or yell at her. Luckily no one notices and they just continue, moving onto Frank. "I'm feeling frightened," he says like he usually does. "There was a banging on my door in the middle of the night and when I opened the door, no one was there."

Next it was Piper who gave Chiron a weak smile. "I'm feeling okay. I mean, nothing too exciting is going on. My dad still hasn't visited me but my mother did yesterday. She told me that she was engaged with Ares which makes me kind of upset. I mean, she knows what she did to my father but she doesn't apologize to him or try to help him. Instead she just lives her life as if she was never married to Ares. But there's nothing I can do so… yeah, I'm doing okay."

It took me a couple seconds to realize that it was my turn. I probably wouldn't have noticed at all but Piper nudged my side with her elbow. All eyes were on me as I spoke. "Well, I had another sleepless night so… I guess I'm feeling tired."

"Annabeth, would you please share with the group about your nightmare?" Chiron asks, just like he does each time we meet for group therapy.

I bite down on my bottom lip again. I want to say no but I've said no all the other times. So I nod and squeeze my eyes shut, spots filling my vision. "There was a bloody knife in my hands, my mother was lying on the ground, and blood was spilling from a wound in her stomach, staining the white carpet. Blood was all over me but I wasn't crying. I was frozen in place. When my father came home, he screamed at me, but I didn't hear a word of what he was saying. Then I was in the backseat of the car, my brother Malcom was hugging me and trying to convince my father that it wasn't me. My father kept crying…" As I went on explaining my dream, I kept my eyes shut tightly; not wanting to face all of the looks of sympathy that I knew everyone was giving me.

Once I finished, I opened my eyes and everyone was looking at me. The looks on their faces showed a mixture of shock and sympathy. My teeth pressed harder down on my lip until the taste of blood fills my mouth.

"Thank you for sharing Annabeth. Hazel, will you please share now?" Chiron asks, clearing his throat; attempting to avert everyone's attention away from me.

Hazel nods and her gaze drifts downwards as she speaks. "I'm doing fine. My personal consular keeps telling me that I need to start taking my medication so that I can get better. But I still don't understand what's wrong with me. I get that I have two personalities and I act as two different people but once I have one of my outbursts, I don't feel any different. When I'm me, I take my medication. I guess I put up a fight when I have an outburst. I still don't get it though…" Hazel trails off and when I look away from her, everyone except for Chiron and Piper are all still staring at me.

About half-way through group therapy, the gazes all shift away from me; slowly everyone begins to actually pay attention to what Chiron is saying.

After group therapy, everyone gets two hours of free time until eight thirty which is when everyone needs to start getting ready for bed. I mean, you can like read and watch TV in your room for a while because lights out isn't until nine thirty.

Piper and I make small talk about group therapy on our way back to our room. While we pass the main office, a tall boy with shaggy black hair and the greenest eyes I've ever seen yells at the lady at the desk. "I'm not crazy!" he yells.

"Of course you're not," she assures him, not even looking up from the paperwork on her wooden desk.

"As crazy as this sounds, the voices in my head are real!" he exclaims.

I smile at him. "C'mon, she's not going to listen to you. Are you new here?"

"Yup," he says, popping the 'P'. "My name is Percy Jackson."

* * *

**(A/N: So this is my new PJO fic! I posted it sooner than I expected to because I couldn't wait any longer to write it! Anyways, let me know what you thought of it in a review! Until the next chapter!)**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

"Hello Percy, my name is Annabeth and this is Piper," I tell him, a small smile on my face. "So you hear voices eh?" I ask as we begin to make our way up the white staircase that is lit by the dim light.

Percy nods slowly. "Everyone just keeps telling me that I'm crazy and sometimes I believe them, but the voices seem so real. Everything they tell me is true, for example, Piper was diagnosed as a kleptomaniac after her parents divorced. And you Annabeth Chase, well you're a mystery just waiting to be solved," he says with a smirk.

A light blush creeps onto my face as the words of his last sentence leaves his lips. Piper however is grinning. "Woah!" she says, the amazement lucid in her voice. "It's like having a superpower!"

Percy laughs and runs his fingers through his dark hair, a shaky breath escaping his lips. Piper opens the door to our room, the hinges making the kind of creaking noise that you usually hear in creepy movies. Sitting down on the tan couch that sits next to the windowsill, I study every detail about Percy. His red lips move as he talks to Piper, his green eyes shine with amusement, and his hair falls a tiny bit below his black eyebrows. He's dressed in all white, just like everyone else considering it is what we're given to wear the moment that we walk into the building. A large bruise covers a section of his left forearm and scars fill his wrists.

Percy turns to face me, noticing me studying him. A smirk covers his face as he speaks. "Like what you see?"

"I'm not checking you out or anything," I tell him, my voice emotionless. "I'm just trying to figure you out."

"What have you got so far?" he asks crossing his arms over his chest.

I knit my eyebrows tightly together as I give myself a couple more seconds to study him. "Well," I finally begin with a sigh. "Considering the slits on your wrists, you tried to commit suicide. My guess is either the voices told you to do so or you're parents thought you were a freak." The look on his face tells me it is both so I continue off of that. "Or maybe it was both. The pain in your eyes shows that you had something bad happen in your childhood. You have that same look hidden just like Piper so I'm guessing that your parents got divorced. Your mother got remarried and that is when the beatings begun. Your step father was convinced you were a freak and begun to beat you. Judging by the protective expression that overcomes your face when I mention your mother, she always tried to protect you but he beat her as well. Then you finally had enough of the beatings and you considered suicide. The voices told you that it was a fantastic idea and they had never told you anything that wasn't true before so you slit your wrists."

Percy bit the inside of his cheek and nodded. "Wow that was impressive _Wise Girl_. You got it all right. How did you do that? I mean, the voices don't tell me that much…"

"You just have to pay attention to the little things _Seaweed Brain_," I reply.

An awkward silence fills the air, letting my sentence hang in the air. Finally, there is a knock at the door and Chiron comes in, announcing that someone is here to see Percy. "Annabeth," Chiron says. I look up, letting him know that I am listening. "Can you show Percy down and once he finishes his visit, up to his room? I'm behind on some paper work that I really need to finish."

Percy and I walk down the stairs in silence, both of us not knowing what to say. When we reach the office, a man and a woman awkwardly stand by the counter. The woman has brown hair and blue eyes that looked like they had once been full of happiness, but they had been drained. The same look had been in my father's eyes when he was driving me to the institution. "Is that your mother?" I ask Percy. He nods before rushing up to his mother and embracing her, whispering questions into her ear. As he talks to her, I study the man next to Percy's mother. He glares at Percy and his mother before scratching his bald scalp. He looks like he's a bit overweight, just as I allow my eyes to meet his, a scream escapes my lips. His murky brown eyes are full of hatred and cruelness.

I back away from him, as I continue to scream, tears pouring down my face. A couple nurses crowd around me and try to calm me down but I can't stop screaming. More tears fall down my cheeks as the memories of my mother's death comes flooding back into my brain. Finally the screams stop but I began to breathe heavily and fast, finding it harder and harder to breathe.

Piper's face comes into view and she rests a hand lightly on my shoulder. "What's wrong Annabeth?" she asks, before forcing me to drink some water.

"The… man… he… killed… my… mother…" I whisper to her between breaths.

She turns her head to look at Percy's stepfather who looks at me with a worried glance but his eyes show amusement. I cower closer to the wall, remembering the threat of coming back to get me.

"Annabeth, you need to calm down or else their going to sedate you and take you to the hospital. Breathe in…" Piper begins to say. I nod and breathe, ignoring the aching headache that begins to grow inside of my head. "… And out… in… out…" We continue to do this until I am able to breathe steadily again. When I try to stand up, my legs feel like Jell-O and I collapse onto the floor, hitting my head against the hard wall. The aching inside of my head grows as well as dizziness. Spots fill my vision, and I shake my head, wanting the spots to leave.

Ignoring the spots and the looks I'm getting, I stand up, leaning against Piper. "Percy, do you remember the way up to our room?" I ask. He nods, giving me a confused look. "Meet me up there once you're done here and I'll take you to your room."

By the time he nods again, Piper and I are already making our way up to our room.

* * *

"I told you to watch your back…" _Percy's step-father hisses into my ear, sending chills down my spine with each word that leaves his lips. _"Because now I'm back and the fun's just getting started. You made yourself a little too comfortable here, becoming friends with my son. Well you brought this upon yourself Anna. And you're hell just became your reality."

_A laugh that you would only hear from the villains in _Disney _movies erupts from the bald man as he cuts off my hand. I bite down harder on my lip, suppressing the urge to scream out and cry. Blood trickles down from my wrist and onto my jeans. "How fun would it be, if your best friend killed you!?" He asks, pulling Piper out from behind the wall. Tears trickle down her cheeks as she holds the gun out in front of her. _

"_I'm sorry," she whispers, as she squeezes the trigger._

I sit up quickly, my heart beating fast against my chest. I take quick choppy breaths, trying not to make much noise so that I don't wake Piper. But when I check in her bed, there's a note left on her pillow. I quickly read her neat handwriting,

_Calypso wanted me to spend the night with her and Hazel. Their having a sleepover "party" and got permission from Chiron for us to be allowed to stay up as long as we want. You're welcome to join us; we didn't want to wake you. It looked like you were sleeping peacefully. _

_See you in the morning,_

_Love, Piper _

I take a deep breath and run a hand through my blonde curls as an idea forms inside my head. I quietly walk through the halls, avoiding all of the staff. When I reach the elevator, the floor seems colder, making my body shiver.

The elevator dings as I reach the roof. I sit at the edge of it, letting my feet swing over the edge. The wind blows through my curls, sending them flying all around my face. The elevator dings again, causing me to turn around. Percy emerges from the elevator, sending a small smile my way.

"Um, my step father Gabe told me to give you a message," Percy awkwardly says, sitting down next to me. When I don't respond, Percy decides to continue. "Uh, he said 'You better not tell anyone our little secret or you know what's coming.' Why did you freak out when you saw him? What did he mean?"

I press my lips tightly together, trying to figure out whether I should trust Percy Jackson or not. He did have to live with Gabe's abuse for a huge part of his life so he probably hates him as much as I do. But what if he's so terrified of Gabe that he tells him and Gabe ends up hurting Malcom or my father?

"Gabe gave me a book awhile back. He told me not to tell anyone because he didn't want his family knowing that he had extra money to give out. And I really love my books so when I saw him, I was scared that he was coming to take it away from me," I lie through gritted teeth. Percy scowls at me and crossed his arms over his chest.

"Come on Annabeth, I'm not going to tell Gabe because I know that's why you're lying to me. I swear on the River Styx that I won't tell anyone. You can trust me. If it makes you feel better, I'll tell you something in return," he says.

"I know what you're trying to do. You said so yourself that you think I'm a mystery just waiting to be solved. No one had ever solved me before and you want to be the one to do it. So you're trying to solve me. You are trying to pick up the broken pieces of me and put them back together. But I found out a long time ago that the broken pieces just don't want to be a part of me anymore. When my mother died, I felt so empty and broken, as if I had just shattered into a million pieces and what you see now, are just the fragments of what's left. All the other pieces are long gone because they just didn't want to be a part of me anymore. And Percy, if I let you in, let you be a part of me; trust me, you won't want to be a part of me anymore. You'll leave me just like my father did, just like all my old friends. There's only two people that remain in my fragments, my brother Malcom, and Piper. Trust me; you don't want to be involved in my life."

Percy sighs, running a hand through his hair before talking. "Annabeth, you've been obviously hurt by many people in your life. So many that now you aren't very trustworthy towards others. The voices agree with you, they keep chanting 'It's a bad idea Percy!' But for once in my life, I don't believe them. I think getting to know you and helping you get away from Gabe would be one of the best things that has ever happened to me. I promise I won't leave you and I'll stick by your side no matter what, just let me help."

I take a deep breath, thinking over whether I should trust this boy who sits next to me. I mean, I know nothing about him and he knows nothing about me so why would he want to help me? Why would anyone? Finally I begin to speak. "Gabe killed my mother when I was ten years old. My father was at work and Malcom was at school. I was sick that day so I stayed home. My mother had stayed home with me and we planned on spending the entire day reading in the living room. It sounded like a perfect plan so I ran off to my room, going to get the blankets and when I returned, my mother was on the floor, clinging to her life. A man with murky brown eyes stood over her, a bloody knife in his gloved hands. He was wearing a ski mask but I could never ever forget his eyes." By this point tears are falling down my face and the cold air makes me shiver. Percy notices this and wraps his jacket around my body. I hug it close to me and he puts his arm around my shoulders, pulling me closer to him. "I was frozen in place, unable to move or speak or listen to anything. He put the knife in my hands and set it up to make it look like I had done it. Then he whispered in my ear something that I can never forget. He said 'You better watch your back kid because I'll be back and I'll do a lot worse than killing your mother.' My father came home from work and sobbed over my mother's body. He screamed at me, telling me how much he hated me. I don't remember Malcom coming home but the next thing I remember is myself in the car and I was coming here. My father still hasn't spoken to me, but I know he's remarried and has twins."

I raise my head up so that I am looking at Percy. Something flashes in his green eyes, something that isn't in many people's eyes; hatred. Pure hatred flows in Percy's eyes telling me that he absolutely hates his step father.

"Annabeth, I promise I won't let him touch you," Percy says, pulling me closer to him.

I wipe the tears from my face and wait for him to share one of his memories. I pull my feet up from the ledge as he begins to speak. "The voices first came to me one of the nights that my parents were fighting. I was seven and my father had just gotten back from one of his work trips and I ran up to him and gave him the biggest hug. My mother however was glaring at him from the corner of the room. 'Did you think I wouldn't notice that you went to California? You told me you were going to Maine for a business trip. I of course thought that you just got the places mixed up but then I go to pay the phone bill and they give me a phone number, asking if I knew who it is because you've been texting it a lot. So I read through the messages and learned all about your affair with Amphitrite!' I had never seen my mother so angry. My father told me to go to my room so I sat on my bed and tried to shut out their screams. Then I heard a voice who told me everything in a way that I would understand. It told me that my father was going to leave in the morning and not come back. And that's exactly what happened. The voices soon became my guide in life even though sometimes they lead me to harm."

Percy and I stayed out there until about three in the morning, just sharing memories and thoughts with each other. When I went back to my room to sleep, I didn't have any nightmares although I was woken up at about two in the morning. Something grabbed me by the hair and yanked me from my bed, throwing me onto the floor. "I told you not to tell you little bitch, now you're going to pay," a familiar voice hisses into my ear.

* * *

**(A/N: Okay so I like really enjoy writing this story so I decided to post the new chapter early! A huge thanks to everyone who reviewed! I'm so glad you guys like it! I felt like this chapter wasn't as good as the first but I had some trouble writing it and had to start over like three times. I have a question for you guys though! Do you guys want me to put like a flashback of like each of their pasts at the beginning so you can understand a bit more about their pasts in this AU? For example, have a flashback for when Piper was smaller and like when they were sent to the institution. So let me know in a review if you think I should do that or not. See you guy's next chapter!)**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

**Annabeth's POV**

The voice had startled me, and I didn't know what else to do except for scream and attempt to get away from him. So I allowed a deafening scream to escape my lips, screaming louder than I ever had before. I kicked and thrashed in his grasp, not wanting him to hurt me. I think back to Percy's promise, trying to hold onto that so that I won't just give up. "_Annabeth, I promise I won't let him touch you." _

Staff members burst into my room, panicked looks plastered across their faces. I let out a loud sob and throw myself into the arms of the nearest ones. "Get him out of my room!" I yell at him.

He attempts to calm me down, rubbing comforting circles on my back. "Annabeth, no one is in the room," he tells me in a calm voice.

"Yes, there is!" I insist. "He pulled me out of my bed by my hair, and threw me on the ground. Look he's right," I turn around, about to point at Gabe but the staff guy is right, there is no one here. My voice falters as I finish the sentence. "…there…"

"How long has it been since you've talked to your consular?" he asks, making me sit down on my bed.

"I've been skipping the sessions," I answer honestly. I hated talking to my consular Ms. Dodds about my problems; I would rather talk to someone who actually cares about my problems. At least she's honest about not caring, unlike all of those other consulars who pretend to care even though it's obvious that they don't actually care and they are only doing it to get paid.

"I think you should start going to see her regularly again, you might find it helpful," he suggests, patting my back. I allow myself to meet his sky blue eyes that seem so familiar. And then it hits me like a slap in the face.

"You're Jason! Thalia's brother," I exclaim, hoping he doesn't realize that I'm purposely trying to change the subject. "How long have you been working here?"

"I just started two days ago," he answers, "but that's not important. Stop trying to change the subject, _Anna_."

I scowl and try to stop myself from slapping him as I threaten him, "Don't. Call. Me. Anna. Ever. Again. Or else I'll hurt you, _Jase_."

"I really don't care what you call me. It's not going to make me stop talking about how you _need _to see your therapist. Really, Annabeth. You seriously need to rethink the whole therapy thing," he says, looking directly into my stormy grey eyes as he tells me that, looking into those hollow, lifeless grey orbs of color as if he can see inside me and see what's wrong with me. Though, I know that nobody can really tell what's wrong with me; they say it's severe depression, they tell me it's something curable, but deep down I know that there's so many things wrong with me- so many things that the doctors and therapists will never be able to cure.

I sigh. "But, Jason, therapy won't help. I've tried it; all it's good for is making me more miserable," I tell him. "Ms. Dodds doesn't even care about anything I have to say. I feel a lot better talking to Percy rather than that old hag."

"Well, you could always talk to Chiron about getting a new consular," he says resting one of his hands gently on my knee in a comforting manner.

"I don't want to go to therapy!" I protest, pushing his hand away.

"Why not?" He asks. "It could always help with these hallucinations, dreams, and flashbacks you've been having. Don't you want to be cured? Don't you want to feel better, Annabeth?"

"Not if I have to go to therapy to feel better! It's just…" I trail off, trying to think of what I can tell him that will make him believe that talking to some old hag for an hour won't help me. "It's not just Ms. Dodds that bothers me; it's the whole idea of therapy. I don't want to waste an entire hour of my life talking to someone who doesn't give a shit about me. It would be like talking to the wall for an hour. It would be pointless. Every time I go to therapy, all they do is sit and ask me questions, and then they give me some drug which only makes me sick. Don't you understand, Jason? Don't you get it?"

At the last sentence, my voice breaks and I feel tears start to pool themselves up in my eyes- though, I can't understand why I'm crying. Maybe it's because I'm tired of feeling lonely, scared, and lost- maybe it's because I'm just so tired of feeling…tired. I guess I've finally had enough.

Sympathy shadows in Jason's eyes as he wraps his arm around my shoulder, pulling me into his embrace. "I'll have a talk with Chiron about this okay?" Jason asks, pulling me away so that I can meet his eyes.

Nodding, I wipe the tears from my cheeks with the backs of my hands. Just at that moment, Piper bursts into the room, a panicked look plastered across her face. She stands in front of me, her arms crossed. "What the hell happened?" Piper demands.

I stare at Jason, waiting for him to answer my roommate. A look of admiration covers his face. I smirk and nudge his arm; he shakes his head and stutters as he answers. "Um… A-Annabeth j-just um had a p-panic attack but she's uh fine now."

"She better be fine," Piper says uncrossing her arms and allowing a small smile to break free. "Are you new?" Piper asks. Not waiting for him to answer, she continues. "I'm Piper."

"I'm uh yeah I'm new," Jason says, rubbing the back of his head with his hand. His eyes widen as he realizes that he introduced himself as 'new'. "I mean my name isn't new! I meant like I'm new working here. My name is Jason!"

Piper laughs before ruffling his hair. "Well, see you around Jason." She winks at him as she leaves the room, heading back to Calypso's.

I smirk at him. "You like her."

"No," he states before leaving as well.

* * *

"Hey Annie," my brother greets me, a small smile on his face. I roll my eyes, not even bothering to yell at him about calling me Annie.

"Hi Malcom. How's things at home?" I ask, sitting down next to him on the bench.

"Helen and Dad went away for the weekend. They went to Paris and left the twins with grandma. I'm home alone for like three weeks." He exhales loudly as the last sentence leaves his mouth. He turns his frown into a smile again. "I heard about your panic attack. You okay?"

"Yup, I'm fine. I just had a hallucination. I don't sleep much so I'm guessing it's from the lack of sleep. They have now diagnosed me with insomnia as well and want to put me on this sleeping pill so that I can actually sleep," I explain. "How is Grandma? I haven't seen her in a while. Usually she visits once a month or so to give me cookies or some sweater that she knitted me."

"Oh she um, passed away a couple months ago, died peacefully in her sleep. Their staying with Helens mother."

For the rest of the time that Malcom is there, we talk awkwardly amongst ourselves. That's usually how are visits go though considering we both are not very good at talking to people.

* * *

"Why don't we share some memories about our past with each other?" Chiron asks. Everyone sitting in the small circle shifts their gazes down, no one wanting to go first. I mean, it's not like everyone had their mother get murdered before their eyes but most of us had a pretty bad past that we did not enjoy sharing. It's not like we didn't trust each other with the stories of our pasts, it's just that if we didn't want to bring up bad memories. "C'mon, don't be shy; we'll all comfort each other. And I will go first if it will make you guys feel batter." As Chiron talks, unenthusiastic mutters of agreement follow. "When I was younger, my parents both hated me; they always favored my little sister. One day we went on a family vacation and we stopped at a gas station to stock up on food. My mother handed me a fifty dollar bill and told me to get a snack for my sister and myself. I found it odd that my mother was being nice to me but I did as she said. Once I paid for everything that I bought, I walked outside to the parking lot and my parents were gone. A social worker came and took me to a foster home and four other boys were there."

Silence fills the air as Chiron finishes but mostly because we expected Chiron to continue on with his story. When he didn't, Piper slowly raised up her hand. "Um, Chiron?" she asked, her voice shaky. "Can I go first?" Chiron nodded as Piper began her story.

* * *

**Piper's POV**

I take a deep breath as Chiron nods. I close my eyes shut and bite the inside of my lip as I begin to explain my story, getting wisped into one of the bad memories of my past.

_Yells emerge from behind the white wooden door. Tears fall down my face as I hug my knees closer to my chest. Then my door flies wide open, slamming against the wall. I scream at the top of my lungs as my father picks me up by my arms. "I'm keeping her!" He screams at my mother. _

_She scoffs and rolls her multi-colored eyes. "Oh please, like Piper would want to stay with you! You hardly even pay attention to the poor girl! You're too busy with all of your movies!"_

"_Like you pay attention to her either!" my father yells back, hugging my shaking body close to him. More tears escape my eyes as he continues to yell. "You're too busy fucking other men you whore!" _

"_Maybe I wouldn't have to if you would paid attention to me! Did you ever stop to think that maybe your family needs you more than your job!?" my mother yells back, as she rips my small body from my father's arms._

"_STOP!" I scream, beating my tiny fists against my mother's arms. "Stop fighting!"_

"_You're right dear," my mother says placing me down on the ground. "There's no point in arguing anymore because I'm leaving tonight. Piper, you're coming with me dear! And Ares will take wonderful care of us." _

_More tears fall down my face as I hug the leg of my father, not wanting them to separate; wanting my mother to stay here and for my parents to make up. "Good!" he yells. "Leave right now! You have an hour to pack your things! I don't want you in my house any longer! But you will not take Piper away from me! She is staying here." _

"_Mommy, please don't leave!" I beg, running back over to her and tugging on the edge of her dress. _

"_Pipes sweetie, I promise I will come back and get you," my mother tells me, bending down so that she can meet my eyes. She lifts her hand up to brush the tears from my cheeks. "It won't be long…"_

_Then I'm in the kitchen, attempting to comfort my sobbing father. He takes a swig from the beer bottle before spitting it out and throwing it across the room. "I hate beer!" he yells. The maid scurries in, quickly cleaning it up. _

"_Daddy, can we go see a movie?" I ask, attempting to get his mind off of my mother leaving. _

"_It's the middle of the night, you dumb bitch!" my father yells at me. His words hit me like a punch to the stomach. Tears fall down my face as I turn my gaze away from him, no longer wanting to look at the man in front of me. This man was not my father. My father was the man who would suggest that instead of seeing a movie, we could sleep outside under the stars and he would tell me stories about my grandfather. When I look back up at my father, his expression softens. "I'm sorry Piper. I didn't mean it; just daddy is sad right now. Go upstairs and sleep okay?" _

_Slowly nodding, I make my way out of the kitchen and up the stairs. _

_I didn't sleep a wink that night. I sat on my bed, hugging my knees close to my chest and sobbing. I wanted my father to come in and tell me how everything would be okay and that he would apologize to my mother in the morning but I got no such luck. So I just sat there crying. _

_When I went to school the next day, it took all my will power to not cry. Finally at lunch, these girls started bullying me about how ugly my hair is. That's when I snapped, I punched one of them in the face. After realizing what I had done, I left campus and found myself outside a store. _

_That day was the first time I stole something. I got caught of course but I didn't care, it got my parents talking to each other about what my punishment would be. _

_After that, I stole all the time, not even caring that the only reason that my parents were only talking because they were trying to punish me. Finally, my father had enough of it once I managed to sell a car. He sent me to the mental institution and they diagnosed me as a kleptomaniac. _

_I haven't seen my father since._

* * *

**(A/N: Hey peoples! Sorry it took me a while to update this. I've had bad writers block. So I was thinking that this would be a good idea to give you guys a little insight on the other "demi-gods" (their not demi-gods in this story because it's an AU but I think you guys got that) pasts. Anyways in the next chapters I will have the other demi-gods pasts. I might do two or three per chapter so it'll only take up like two or three chapters. Anyways I would love to hear what you guys thought of this chapter so review or PM me! See you guys next chapter!) **


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

**Leo's POV**

_My story isn't all that interesting you know. It may not be as dark and gloomy as everybody else's but it does have to do with me and my family and it is important to me. Anyways, my story starts when my father decided that it would be fun to go on a camping trip. _

"_Come on Leo, it's going to be fun! Plus your mother can have some time to herself while we're gone." My father's husky voice said. When he talked, it always sounded as if he was growling but his voice was just gruff. He was a buff and bulky man, the complete opposite of my scrawny body. He had a dark beard and mustache that covered half his face and his dark hair was almost always slicked back with grease. He had bushy eyebrows that didn't help making his face not look like it was covered with hair. But under all the hair were his brown eyes that gleamed with comfort and happiness. My father had a tragic past, his mother thought he was ugly and so she kicked him out of the house but anyways, that's not the point of my story. _

_My mother had helped me pack my bag with everything I needed. I was kind of nervous because my father wasn't really all that close to me. I was closer to my mother. As I sat on my bed, swinging my feet off of the edge, she gave me a comforting smile. "What's wrong Leo the Lion?" my mother had asked, noticing the aura of sadness that seemed to radiate off of me that day. She only called me by my nickname when she knew that something was wrong. My mother knew that it almost always cheered me up. _

_I managed to give her a small smile before explaining about how I didn't really feel comfortable around my father. I mean, I had lived with the man for the seven years of my life but I honestly didn't know much about him. It's like when you have a friend that's close with your best friend and you like the person but when you talk to that person, things seem awkward and weird._

_In the end I went with my father on this camping trip. We made small talk. He asked me about school and my likes and dislikes and I asked him about work and his likes and dislikes. I actually learned quite a lot about my father on that day. _

_When we arrived in the middle of the forest, my father set up the tent. While I waited, I sat in the truck, looking through all of my father's work supplies. Once he finished I helped him unpack all of our supplies into the tent. After we finished that, it was beginning to get dark so I helped my father craft a fire. _

_Now just to let you know so that you do not get bored, there is a point to this memory and I'm just about to get to it, so don't stop listening just yet. _

_The moment that the fire roared to life, sparks flew (metaphorically and literally). I was mesmerized by the way that the flames flickered and danced across the wood. I was amazed by the bright colors. The way that the red danced at the top swaying side to side and then the orange seemed to consume the yellow so that they almost looked like one. I loved watching the little hints of white, violet, and blue dance closer to the wood then the other colors. It was as if they were scared to dance as freely and as widely as the other vibrant colors that had no shame. _

_When it was time for bed, I didn't want to leave the fire, something pulled me towards it. A strange urge to make more fire bubbled up inside my chest. My father kept scolding me, telling me that I had to go to sleep now. And when I wouldn't, he stomped the fire out and pulled me into the tent. _

_That night, my dreams were filled with the dances and movements of the flames. I wanted to light another fire, but my father said no. He tried to explain to me that fire is a dangerous element and it isn't meant to be played with, but I couldn't help but take the lighter that I had found in his tool box. _

_That night while my mother was at work, I hid under my blanket and watched the flames dance on the lighter. My father had ripped the blanket off of me and I dropped the lighter in shock. The fire had caught the white sheet on my bed, igniting it with the vibrant colors that I had fallen in love with. _

_My father grabbed me as the flames danced across my bed sheet. I thrashed in his grip, wanting to be able to dance with the growing flames. My father put me outside and was very stern when he told me not to go inside. I sighed and watched in awe as my father ran back into the house. I wanted to do just as he had and run through the heated flames. I wanted to be able to touch them and become part of them. But I obeyed my father and stayed put. _

_Twenty minutes had passed and the flames grew more and more. My father still had not yet come out and it was beginning to worry me. I knew that fire could kill people, but because of my odd fascination with the flames, that thought had been erased from my mind as I watched the flames grow more and more._

_Sirens bellowed in the distance and I began to grow impatient. The flames stayed about the same now, not really growing much. I needed to make them grow more and more. I walked towards the fire with my hands out in front of me, ready to spread the flames myself but something pulled me back. I thrashed in the man's grip as he pulled me away from the fire. _

_He set me down inside of the back of an ambulance and someone else wrapped a grey blanket around my shoulders while the man asked me questions. "What's your name?" _

"_Leo," I stated blankly. My attention drifted off from him as I tried to see what the other men were doing to my fire. When I saw that each time the water that they had lowered the flames dances, I cried out. "Stop it! You're hurting it!" I threw my blanket aside and pushed the man talking to me out of my way as I ran towards the fire. _

_Another man grabbed my waist and handed me to the man that was speaking to me before. "Leo, my name is Jack; I need you to answer my questions okay? Fire is dangerous and it might have hurt your mommy or daddy if they are in there." He spoke in a calm voice and made it seem like he was talking to a four year old. It did not soothe me or make my urge to save the fire stop, if anything, it worsened. I thrashed in his grip, kicking him, punching him. I just wanted to help the fire. _

"_Leo, if you stop thrashing and answer my questions; I will give you a lighter and you can watch the fire." Jack had said with a sigh. I stopped thrashing and waited for him to ask the first question. "Okay, was anyone else in your house?" _

"_My daddy went back in to get a couple of things after he put me outside." I said, holding my hands out, waiting for my prize. _

"_Where is your mother?" He asked, digging through his pockets. _

"_At the work shop, she stays late most days," I reply as he hands me the lighter. _

_Later that night, I found out that my beautiful flames had killed my father. My mother cried for weeks but I didn't cry at all. I mean of course I was bummed that my father had died without saying goodbye, it's just the way I thought of it was that he had now become a part of the flames. Whenever I took the lighter that Jack had given to me out from my pocket, I would just stare at the flames dancing. And I swear that I would see a glimpse of my father swaying along with the flames._

* * *

_About a year later, I was playing hide and seek with my mother in her workshop._

"_Where could my little Leo be?" I hear my mother's sweet voice asked. Giggles escaped from my lips and filled the quiet closet with noise. I quickly covered my mouth, attempting to keep the laughter inside of my mouth but it didn't work. _

_There was a big block of wood in the storage closet next to me and all of a sudden the lighter in my pocket got a thousand times heavier. I pulled it from my pocket, my thumb hovering over the red button that would ignite it. I was just itching to see the flames dancing on the wood, and I wanted so badly for the scent of burning wood to fill my nostrils. _

_I pressed down, allowing for the flames to lap over the wood. I let go of the button and placed the block on the floor watching the flames chase each other across the wooden floor. _

_ "Leo!" My mother's voice had shrieked, startling me. "Go outside now!" She yelled frantically. The flames kept spreading more and more as I left the closet. I looked back to see my mother trying desperately to get the fire extinguisher._

_A piece of wood falls down from the ceiling preventing my mother from escaping the fire. A scream escaped my lips as I ran towards the wood. I tapped on it, using Morse code to ask her if she was okay. A light tapping emerged from the other side, spelling one word. _

'Run.'

_After my mother died, they put me into a foster home with an old lady who smelt bad. I kept starting fires in her backyard so she sent me to the institution. I had felt so unwanted and abandoned and I hated it. But I guess you can't change the past._

* * *

**Frank's POV**

"_Mom, please don't go. You could get killed like dad did. Please," I had begged the morning that my mother had left to go fight in Afghanistan. I had already thought of a million scenarios that could happen to her while she was away and it scared me half to death. Well a lot of things scared me but losing my mom scared me more than anything else. I had already lost my father to the war earlier in the year. It had crushed my mother but it didn't stop her from wanting to go back. _

"_Frank, I promise I'll come back, it's just a training session for the newbies. I'll be back in a month. Plus your grandmother needs some company." My mother said as she pulled me into her embrace. _

_Tears fell down my face as I hugged my mother tightly. I didn't want to stay with my grandmother. Honestly, she frightened me with her peculiar ways. She would always mutter things to herself in Chinese when she thought no one was looking. Her grey hair was always pulled up into a tight bun and she wore a scowl proudly upon her face. My grandmother hated me and how I was terrified of everything. She would never tell me that she hated me, but she would always whisper to my mother things about me whenever she thought I wasn't listening. "Doesn't it bother you that the boy is scared of every little thing? He wouldn't be able to last a day by himself. I want a brave grandson," I heard her tell my mother one day. _

"_Promise you'll be back for my birthday?" I asked, pulling her even closer, not wanting her to leave. _

"_I promise Frank. Be good to your grandmother and don't listen to anything she has to say." My mother said, parting from me. My mother pulled something out from her pocket that was wrapped in her blue bandana. "Keep it and don't open it until your birthday." As the words left her lips, another wave of fear punched me in the stomach. _

_More tears fell down my face as I watched her car drive off, leaving me behind._

* * *

_About a month later, my birthday rolled around. _

_I sat at the table with my eyes squeezed tightly shut. It was something that I didn't do very often because I was scared of someone coming up behind me and killing me. But I didn't care that night, that night I wanted to die. When I opened my eyes, my grandmother brought out the chocolate cake with unlit candles on them (I wouldn't let her light them)._

"_Happy birthday Fai," my grandmother said before cutting the cake. _

_I pulled the item out from my pocket and pulled it out from the bandana. It was a piece of wood with a note attached to it. _

'Dear Frank,' _it read._ 'Happy birthday! I'm giving you this piece of wood because it fell from a tree on the day I met your father. It hit me on the head and I fell down onto the street in front of a huge truck. I thought I was going to die in that moment but your father stood over me, and I knew that he would have died than let that truck hit me. I love you!'

_My grandmother handed me a package and gestured for me to open it. Inside of it were three new books. I had smiled at her but then went back to frowning. _

"_Fai, cheer up, she said she would be here," my grandmother scolded. _

_A smile covered my face as I heard a knock at the door. I hopped off my seat and opened the door, not even thinking about checking to see who it was. My smile faded as I saw a man dressed up in his military uniform. He carried a letter in his hand and his face was dead serious, telling me that he only meant business. _

"_Are you the family of Emily Zhang?" He asked his voice emotionless. I nodded and he continued to talk. "I bring news about her." By this time my grandmother had appeared at the door behind me, a look of fear shadowed across her face. _

"_Please come in," my grandmother whispered, her voice barely auditable. _

_The man nodded and sat down on the couch across from my grandmother's chair. My grandmother sat down on the chair and I stood perched behind her. _

"_Emily Zhang's unit was ambushed yesterday afternoon at approximately 18:42. No one survived the attack. I am very sorry for your loss." He said his voice still emotionless. _

_As he spoke, I felt the air slowly leave my lungs. My chest began to ache as I fell down onto the hard floor below me. I slowly closed my eyes, not wanting to see anything. _

"_You promised," I had whispered before I became unconscious. _

_A couple weeks later, my grandmother died of a heart attack and I was put into foster homes. They all hated me and the third one I went to, sent me to the institution. I felt like I had lost everyone I loved. After I got to the institution, they diagnosed me with Paranoia and selective mutism because I would only talk to Chiron and my first friend at the institution, Hazel._

* * *

**(A/N: Hey guys, I'm so sorry that I haven't updated in like forever! It's just I've been busy with school and ugh. I hate going because I don't enjoy the presence of very many people there but… Anyways, I had a little bit of trouble writing this chapter because I was trying to get Frank and Leo's voices to be different from each other's and from Annabeth's. I plan on getting the next chapter up sometime next weekend. So review and let me know what you thought maybe?) **


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

**Calypso's POV**

"_Colors, colors everywhere. Speaking to me in hushed voices, each one having something different to say. Red yelling to me about how angry it is. Blue sobbing to me about sorrow. Yellow speaking of happiness. Orange screaming about excitement. Green bubbling about his pain." _

_Those were the exact words I had spoken to my father when I had first met him. My mother had died giving birth to my sister Zoë and once she did, I was shipped off to the other side of the country to live with my dad. He was a consular at the mental institution but later got fired for mistreating the patients. _

_Anyways, I wouldn't talk to my father when I first arrived. He had taken me to work and asked what I was thinking. So seven year old me decided it would be a fantastic idea to tell him. _

"_The colors don't like to be thrown together all at once," I had said after that. "They like everything to be neat and organized. Except for in paintings, that's when they liked to be thrown together. That's why I like to paint. The colors speak to me in paintings. But I don't throw the colors together, no that would not please them. I paint little rows to keep them happy. Your desk is a mess father and the colors on all of your items do not appreciate that. They like to be neat and organized." _

_I kept rambling on about the colors and how they liked to be neat because that's what I was thinking of. _

_My father left the room only to return minutes later with his desk top redecorated. I had resorted all the objects on it so that the colors were comfortable where they were. I had also cleaned up his office so that not an object was out of place. It was a lot neater like this. _

_He had smiled an odd smile at me as he looked at me from the doorway. At that moment I knew that he had only thought of me as an experiment. His eyes were hard and cold and showed absolutely no love for me. "You're a freak," he had stated after closing the door. "But that is a good thing because you're going to help daddy with his job. I'm going to diagnose you with extreme OCD. Stay here Calypso, daddy will be right back." _

_He kept talking to me as if I was two and it annoyed me. I sat down on the purple bean bag chair, my arms crossed across my chest. My mother had not once called me a freak. She called the thing with the colors and my unusual neatness a gift. She said I was brilliant and talented and always made me feel special, as if I was a real human and not some guinea pig that'll help get a pay check. _

_After that day, I moved into the mental hospital and was assigned my own room. My father would take me into his office every other day for one on one therapy. _

"_So Calypso, how are you feeling today?" my father had asked on the first day. _

"_Fine," I muttered, looking out the window. _

"_Look at me when I am talking to you," my father had snapped._

_I sighed and shifted my gaze away from the window. "I asked how you were feeling. Don't mutter this time. It is not polite." My father had said in a fake nice voice. _

"_I said I am doing fine." I shouted. _

_My father stood up and walked around his desk so that he was standing in front of it. He leaned towards me and in one swift movement, he had slapped my cheek. An intensifying pain throbbed in my left cheek and tears had threatened to fall down my face. "Do not give me attitude young lady. I am your father and you will listen to me and talk to me in a normal tone. Do you understand?"_

_I nodded and looked him straight in the eye, not wanting to show weakness. _

_After that day, he would harm me during each session. He would say that I was disobeying him. Sometimes I believed him and other times I just thought that he was just cruel. _

_My sister Zoë came to visit my father and myself on my tenth birthday. He absolutely adored my three year old sister and I will admit I was jealous of her. A year later she was diagnosed with Leukemia. My daily beatings worsened, my father blamed me for my sister having cancer and even though I had nothing to do with it, he still thought that somehow, it was entirely my fault._

_Sometimes I would just let him hit me and just lie on the floor, tears falling down my face. But occasionally, I would fight back but then it would get ten times worse for me. _

_When my sister turned five, we brought a small chocolate cake into her hospital room. She looked really pale and weak but a small smile was on her face. "Today's the day," she had whispered weakly. "I can feel the life being slowly drained from me."_

_Tears poured down my face as I held her hand and she blew out her pink candles. Then she decided to take a nap. I sat by her side just watching her sleep, glad to be away from my abusive father. "My story is finally coming to an end," my sister said, clasping my hand tightly in hers. "Can't you hear the clock striking the end of my time?" _

_Her body went limp and the monitor stopped beeping its steady rhythm and just made a single beep. Tears fell down my face as the doctors ran past me, trying to revive my dead sister, but I knew that she was dead. The only part of my mother that I had left had crumpled in my very hands. _

_At the funeral my father had apologized to me, telling me that he was sorry for giving me all the beatings that he had. I later learned that that same day, he had been fired from his job. _

"_Things are going to get better once I'm gone," my sister had promised me in one of the last days that I was with her. As my father had apologized to me and begged for forgiveness, I had actually started to believe her words. _

…_Ω…_

**Hazel's POV**

_A grin appeared on my face as I took off the blindfold. "Happy birthday Hazel!" my mother said, her voice very cheerful. She loved holidays and she could never be made upset when one came around. _

_In front of my eyes was a tall horse. He threw his head back and kicked up a leg, announcing his beauty to the world. His black mane was glossy and shined, not a single tangle in it. The rest of him was a creamy caramel color. His eyes were golden and sparkled with pride. _

_I shook my head for a second. "Mom, Dad, I can't accept this. He must have been so expensive…" I trailed off._

"_Nonsense!" my mother exclaimed, throwing her hands together. "Your father knows a man." _

_I was still skeptical about it but I agreed and ran to my bedroom, gathering my saddle and bridle. I quickly saddled him up and rode him to the stables, where I knew Sammy would be. _

_When I got there, he was sitting on one of the closed stable doors, petting his favorite horse whose name is Apple. _

"_Sammy look!" I exclaim, barely containing my excitement. He turned around to look at me and his face broke into a grin when he saw me upon the horse. _

"_Oh gods Haze! He's beautiful! What's his name?" Sammy asked as he climbed up to sit behind me. _

"_Arrion," I said proudly. Sammy wrapped his arms tightly around my waist which made the butterflies in my stomach go insane. Sammy and I had been best friends ever since I could remember. I had only begun to have a crush on him a year ago though. _

_We rode for a couple of hours, enjoying the way the wind blew through our hair and the way we bounced in sync with Arrion. _

_Once we put Arrion back in the stables, Sammy brought out a basket. "I planned a picnic for you," he explained before taking my hand in his. We walked for a while before stopping at a willow tree that stood tall next to a lake._

_We laughed and ate turkey sandwiches and drank apple juice. Then we split a huge chocolate cupcake with light blue frosting. Once we finished, Sammy stood up. "Well my mother is probably wondering where I am. I'll see you tomorrow Haz." He quickly pressed his lips to my cheek before running off._

_I stood there for a second, wondering if I had hallucinated what had just happened. A silly grin covered my face and I skipped home, not a care in the world. But little did I know that my life was about to change. _

_My mother and father sat on the couch watching a movie. I got my colored pencils and some paper before sitting in front of the coffee table and coloring. I hummed my favorite song while I drew. I always drew the events of my day, it helped soothe me, calm me down. At the moment I was drawing myself when I laid eyes on Arrion. _

"_What you drawing Hazel?" my father asked. _

"_Arrion," I replied, coloring his beautiful black hair. I quickly finished that one and moved onto Sammy and I sitting on Arrion's back, his arms wrapped around my waist and out heads thrown back in laughter. _

_I had never shown anyone my drawings before. I had a file cabinet in my room that was filled with folders. Each folder was a day and the folder was always filled with drawing about what happened each day. It was like writing a diary. Sammy and my parents had always asked if they could see but I would never let them. I had a fear of rejection; I felt that if I showed them my drawings that they would laugh and say that they were terrible. I know it was an irrational fear but I couldn't help but think that. _

_For one of Sammy's birthdays I had drawn a picture of him sitting on a horse. I had captured the memory and trapped it on paper. He loved it and framed it in his bedroom. "You're going to be the next Vincent Picasso!" he had exclaimed which had made me laugh. _

"_There's no 'Vincent Picasso'," I laughed. "There's Pablo Picasso and Vincent Van Gough." _

_He swiped a hand at me. "Oh same thing." _

_ Anyways, enough with the rambling, I suppose I should get to the point of this._

_While my family and I were enjoying our evening, people were outside of our house. We didn't know this of course otherwise we could have prevented this tragedy. The windows had shattered, glass scattering all over the living room. _

"_Hazel," my father whispered grabbing my shoulders and pushing me towards my room. "Go to your room, lock the door and don't come out no matter what. Go quickly. I promise it'll all be okay." _

_I ran to my room, tears filling my eyes. I knew that things would not be okay. That my family would probably die and I might go with them. How could such a wonderful day end so terribly? _

_I got a duffle bag out from under my bed after I locked the door and stuffed my most important drawings in it. I threw my colored pencils in and other important possessions. I threw my piggy bank in as well and opened my window, throwing my bag out. Just as I was about to climb out I heard banging on my door and my mother's screams. I knew I wouldn't have time to get out so I quickly hid under my bed. _

_The door fell to the ground and voices filled the air. "Where the hell is your daughter?" a masculine voice had asked. _

"_At a friend's house," my father's voice replied. _

"_If you lie to me again, I'll shoot your wife," the voice said again. _

"_I'm not lying," my father insisted. The fear was evident in his voice which worried me even more. My father never worried. _

_A loud bang erupted and a ringing noise filled my ears and that's when I blacked out for the first time. When I woke up my father was hugging me and bloody bodies surrounded us. I felt like I was stuck in a nightmare and I wouldn't ever wake up. _

**Break In and Murder!**

**By: Jenifer Hasson**

Two nights ago a family was enjoying their night when five men dressed in black broke in. The father told his daughter to go hide in her room while he handled the burglars. They wanted to know where his daughter was and when he wouldn't tell them, they broke into his daughters room where she was hiding under her bed. When they could not find the small girl, they shot Hades Di Angelo's wife.

I got an exclusive interview with the man himself.

"The events of that night were absolutely scarring and terrifying. It all happened so quickly, even I'm not sure if half of it even happened. It was my daughter's birthday and we were sitting in the sitting room. Then glass went everywhere signifying that the windows were broken. My daughter went to hide while I tried to get them to leave. One of the men grabbed my wife by the hair and threw her against the wall. He wanted to know where Hazel was. He said that we had had an agreement that if I didn't give him a million dollars, then he would receive my daughter which is all very false. When I wouldn't tell him where Hazel was, he looked through all the rooms. When we got to Hazels, he kicked down the door and walked in, still pulling my wife by the hair. Tears glistened in her eyes and she kept mouthing how much she loved me. It was as if she knew she was about to die. The man knew I was lying about Hazel being at Sammy's house and so he shot my wife before my eyes. I cried out and fell to my knees, cradling my wives dead body. I looked up and behind him was my daughter. There was something in her eyes that I had never seen before, vengeance. She snapped his neck and took the gun from his hand before killing everyone else in the room but me. She fell to my lap and began to sob. Seconds later she had asked me what happened and who had died. I took her to a consular yesterday and we discovered she had multiple personality disorder. I took her to the best metal institution in the country: Camp Half-Blood."

I will be writing a follow up article if I am able to get more details from Hazel. This is Jenifer Hasson, saying 'Stay tuned for more action packed articles!'

….Ω….

**(A/N: I'm really sorry for the late update. It's just school and ugh. I don't want to go… I know this chapter wasn't the best but I felt really bad for not updating and I didn't really know how to write Hazel and Calypso's backstory for this so… Anyways, please let me know what you thought and if you guys want Hazel to be with Sammy or Frank in this fic!)**


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

**Annabeth's POV**

A comforting silence falls over the members of the group as Hazel finishes the story about her past. "Thank you all for sharing," Chiron says after a while. He rubs his hands together before standing up. "I think that will conclude this session. Someone else will be joining us next time. Oh and I'm truly sorry that all of you had to go through a childhood as traumatizing as you all did. It wasn't fair for any of those things to happen to you, and I wish I could have done something to prevent it."

His eyes are shadowed with sympathy and I do something that surprises everyone. I wrap my arms around his body, pulling him into my embrace. I've never been the hugging type, but I couldn't help but feel as if Chiron needed my comforting embrace. I feel someone else wrap their arms around mine and Chiron's hugging bodies. I look to see Frank, who gives me a weak smile. I close my eyes and just allow everyone in the group to join the comforting embrace.

"We're all a family," I hear Calypso's voice say. "We'll protect each other no matter what." Everyone mutters a 'yes' in agreement and we separate, parting from the hug.

… Ω …

Piper's face breaks into a grin as she plops down onto the bottom bunk of my bed. "Pretend like you're a normal teenager for just two minutes," Piper orders, her grin getting wider by the second.

I close my book and sigh. "What is it?" I ask in a mono-tone.

"With more enthusiasm and more teenage girlish!" Piper says her voice bubbly and happy.

I put a wide- fake –smile on my face and say in a valley girl type voice, "OH EM GEE! WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED? YOU SO HAVE TO LIKE TELL ME!" I twirl my blonde curls around my finger before we both burst into uncontrollable laughter. "But seriously, what happened?" I ask, once we both stopped laughing.

"Well you know the super gorgeous nurse that works here? The one with the blonde hair and dreamy blue eyes?" Piper asks, her face blushing harder and harder with each word.

I pretend to barf and Piper punches me. "Okay, ew. First off, he's like a brother to me so please do not use adjectives like 'gorgeous' and 'dreamy' to describe Jason. Second off, that is completely gross. And third, you know that scar he has above his lip? Well he got that trying to eat a stapler when we were little."

Piper smirks at me, one eyebrow raised. "I find that completely… sexy." Her voice was low and in a tone that was meant to be seductive. We both start laughing again and finally Piper gets to the point of this entire conversation. "Well, he asked me on a date. He said that we can just hang out around the institution for a while so we can get to know each other and then once he gets permission to, he said he would take me for a real date. Like outside of the institution, going to the movies, a walk in the park date!"

I smile at her. "That's great news!" My smile quickly fades and I pick up my book, attempting to get lost in the words again. But my attempt fails as an image of Percy's sea green eyes fill my brain. I don't even know why it was an image of him and not someone else like some random pop star from a boy band or whatever. Wait, I take that back, I absolutely hate boy bands.

"What's wrong Annie?" Piper asks noticing that I keeping to myself a lot more than usual. I mean, I had only been happy for her for a second, I couldn't even pretend to be happy for her for just a couple more minutes. I felt terrible about it because I honestly was happy for her, my brain was just too caught up in other things to keep up my perky act.

"Just sleepy," I mutter, bringing my legs up to my chest and falling over onto my side so that I am facing the wall and not Piper.

"Okay, well get some rest then, I'll be here if you need me," Piper says, her voice distant.

I felt as if my friendship with Piper was drifting apart. When I first came here, she was the only person who understood- or attempted to understand –what I was going through. She had become my best friend within the first day I was here. But recently, I felt as if something had come in between us. Maybe it was the fact that we were both getting older, or maybe it was the fact that my nightmares worsened with every passing night. I know it seems confusing. I mean, how could a couple of bad dreams put a block in between my best friend and me? Well, every time that a nightmare consumes my slumber, I feel more and more broken, I feel as if it's just another reminder that I will always be alone.

I shut my eyes, preventing the tears that have formed in my eyes from spilling across my cheeks. I felt around my bed for my blue owl, one of the few items that I was allowed to keep from home. I hugged it close, inhaling the scent of it. It still smelled like my home. The smell of it alone managed to bring a small smile to my face. The owl signified the happy moments of my life when my father did not hate me and my mother was still alive. Times when, Malcom would chase me down the stairs and push me onto the couch before tickling me until I screamed at the top of my lungs; times when my mother would scold us for roughhousing but we all knew that there was a warm and comforting smile behind her stern face; times when that smile would appear and we would call my father into the living room and tell stories and drink hot coco with marshmallows that overflowed the rim of the mug.

Still thinking about those happy times, I bring the owl closer to my chest and open my eyes, allowing the tears to spill. I allow a shaky breath to be released from behind my lips and shut my eyes again, drifting off into a slumber that would be full of nightmares.

…Ω…

"_Annie, it's so wonderful for you to finally be home Annie," my father says, wrapping an arm around my shoulder and pulling me closer as we stand in the doorway of my bedroom. _

"_I'm just glad that you finally forgave me. I love you dad," I say, wrapping my arms around him and pulling him close._

"_I'm sorry for ever blaming you. I should let you unpack. Come downstairs in about an hour for dinner. We're having your favorite…" he smiled at me before closing the door. _

"_Wow, an hour," a voice says from behind me. I turn around to see Percy flopped out across my bed tossing a glass ball in the air over and over. He smirks at me before speaking again. "Do we have to spend all of it unpacking?" He winks at me and a blush creeps up onto my cheeks. He puts the glass ball down and stands up, making his way over to me. My back leans against the wall and he leans on his arm that rests against the wall, right above my shoulder like in one of those cliché movies. _

_I purse my lips together as he picks up a lose curl that falls into my face and tucks it behind my ear. His warm breath hits my face, sending shivers up my spine and making me dizzy. _

_His other hand rests on the wall right next to my hips and that's when I realize that my hands are rested firmly on his waist. "Kiss me Annabeth," his voice whispers into my ear. All of the hairs on my arms and legs prick up, making me shiver. "You know you want to." His warm breath tickles my ear and I can no longer resist the temptation. _

_I bring my hands up to his hair and pull his lips to mine. His lips move in sync with mine and his hands move to my waist. I run my fingers through his hair, smiling against his lips. _

"_Don't leave me like Luke and Thalia and so many others did," I say against his lips. _

"_I will stay with you," he mutters back. "Always." _

_A coppery taste fills my mouth as we kiss. I open my eyes and notice that Percy's green orbs have now turned a dark black color and blood his slowly trickling down from his eye sockets. I scream and try to push him away but he falls to the floor, blood dripping from a wound in his stomach. A bloody knife appears in my hand when I look down and I scream, dropping it to the floor. "Annabeth?" Percy asks his eyes back to their normal color. Blood still flows rapidly from his eyes as he lies on the floor, a look on his face representing a mixture of terror and pain. "Why would you do this to me?" he asks. _

_I fall to the floor and hug my knees to my chest, rocking back and forth, squeezing my eyes shut. "This isn't real." I try to tell myself over and over. _

_I look up as I feel the pressure of a hand resting on my shoulder. "It's okay Annie," the man says. I recognize him immediately as Percy's stepfather, the man who framed me for killing my mother. "We did this together," he says with a sick grin on his face. He gestures to my dead family members on the ground. _

"_I finally had them and you ruined it!" I scream at him. _

_He holds up a hand and clicks his tongue several times before speaking again. "Annie, Annie, Annie. I think it's too innocent for a girl like you. But we don't get to choose our names so I guess I'll forgive you. But don't you understand that we did this together?"_

_I begin to scream and rock back and forth faster and faster as the corpses cheer my name over and over and over…_

...Ω…

"Annabeth, G-d Dammit wake up!" A masculine voice pulls me out of my nightmare. I open my eyes and notice that Piper and Percy are standing over me, worried looks on their faces.

I notice that my body is clammy from my nightmare and my throat hurts. I must have been screaming and tossing and turning in my sleep again. "Finally," Piper says. "I've been trying to wake you up for hours. You kept talking in your sleep again and then you started screaming and saying 'I'm sorry Percy' over and over again. Are you okay?"

I bite my lip and nod. "Water?" My throat is raw and my voice was hoarse so that was the only thing that I could manage to say.

"I'll go get it." Piper says before sprinting off, closing the door behind her. That's when I notice that Percy and I are alone in the room together. If one of the nurses walked in and saw that we were alone we could get in trouble but that was honestly the least of my worries.

"Are you okay?" Percy asks, sitting next to me on my bed and pulling my shaking body close to him. He leaves his arm around my shoulder as I rest my head against his chest. I shake my head no and tears began to spill as I remember the dream. The first part had been… but the second part had been torturous.

I reach over his body and grab a piece of paper and a pen from my nightstand and write: _Can I try something? _in my sloppy hand writing before showing it to Percy.

"Anything if it will help make you feel better. I hate seeing you like this." Percy says. I bite my lip, thinking over what I'm about to do and before I can think about it any longer, I press my lips against his.

This kiss isn't like the one in the dream. In the dream his lips had been desperate and forceful. They weren't anything like that in this kiss. Now they were just sweet and calm. The kiss wasn't like how it was in the dream. It was over within a second as we parted and just stared at each other. "What the hell was that?" Percy whispers, moving his head so that our foreheads are against each other's.

_"A kiss Seaweed Brain."_ I want to say but I just stay quiet and stare into his rebellious green eyes.

The door flies open but Percy and I don't move or even acknowledge that Piper is in the room.

"OH EM GEE!" I hear a voice squeal. "I so ship it!"

I slowly move away from Percy so that we were sitting as we were before I decided to do something extremely stupid and kiss him. I look over and see Piper and Calypso grinning at us. Piper hands me the glass of water and I slowly sip it.

"So are you two a thing now?" Piper asks, a huge smile covering her entire face.

"We're just friends." Percy replies. I was taken aback by his words. They shocked me. My heart sunk and I tried not to look hurt as I took slow sips of the water.

I nodded slowly in agreement. "I'll be right back," I whispered. I picked up the thin blanket from my bed and headed down the narrow corridors until I reached the elevator. I pressed the button and pulled out the key to the roof from my pocket.

I bit my lip as the elevator creaked up to the roof. When I reached it, I was immediately hit with icy cold air from the night sky. I ignored the way the icy air bit my legs as I walked to the edge of the building and thought over what exactly I plan on doing.

"Jumping off the edge is the obvious choice," a familiar voice growls from behind me. I jump in surprise as I turn around and realize that Gabe is standing not fifteen feet away from me.

"Leave me alone," I whisper. "You aren't real."

"I am real Annie," he hisses. "I told you I would be back. It seems like you've gotten much too comfortable with your lifestyle that you have now. I think we should fix that don't you agree?"

He steps closer to me and I take a small step backwards, almost falling off the edge of the building in the process. I hug my blanket closer to me and Gabe gives me a venomous smile as he notices my uneasiness. "A lot of big talk," I say, attempting to sound intimidating. My throat aching with each word. "Why don't you actually do it?"

Gabe just laughs. "Because I promised my boss that I wouldn't kill you just yet. Yeah, that's right; I'm working for someone who wants you dead. Believe me, I want to kill you so badly that there's an aching in my chest for it. I haven't killed in so long. Boss promises that you and my little freak of a stepson will be killed eventually, but just not yet. He still needs you both alive in order for the plan to work."

That's when it all clicked together in my mind. He was only feeding me all of this information because he couldn't kill me. But what he could do it push me until I broke into a thousand pieces. And it was working. The more I looked at him, the more I wanted to be with my mother, dead and in the ground.

"What will happen to this plan if I die right now?" I manage to ask.

"Not sure, but let's find out." Gabe sneered, stepping closer and closer to me. His hands touched my shoulders and I begin to scream as I fell backwards. I flapped my arms around frantically as I tried to keep my balance, but it was too late. Just as I fell, something grabbed my arm, saving me from falling to my death.

* * *

**(A/N: Who's ready for Blood of Olympus!? I am but I'm not! **

**I am really sorry for this chapter being on the shorter side and I'm sorry for the long wait. I just have had writers block and I know this chapter sucked. It's just I have to have a couple filler chapters so I can lead up to the 'main course' of this fic. I've just been having problems getting there… Anyways, review… maybe? And I have another PJO fic that you guys should go check out. It's called "Falling to Pieces." It's an AU and it's going to be action packed. I'm going to try and update both of my PJO fics on the seventh in honor of BoO. So I guess I will see you guys on the seventh! Until then!) **


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

**Annabeth's POV**

_I don't remember much of what happened. I mean, I remember seeing murky brown eyes and the man cursing under his breath as he saved my life. It wouldn't have even mattered if I died that day. I wanted to die and it's not like anyone would care if I was gone. _

_But that's not the point of this. None of it is the point. The point is that the man, who wants me dead, saved me from dying. 'Why' is probably the question most people would be wondering but I'm more intelligent than most people- not to boast or anything. The one question that ran through my mind was whom is this man working for? Why does he want me and my family dead? How am I going to stop this man? _

_It didn't take very long for me to begin to uncover the secrets of my family and the man whom wanted us dead. But as soon as I uncovered the first answer, I immediately regretted wanting to know…_

...Ω…

"Hush or he will punish me for giving you irrelevant information," a voice warns the second I open my eyes. My vision is blurry but after a couple of blinks, my vision begins to clear and I see a girl with fiery red hair and serious green eyes. Her eyes resemble Percy's a lot, but hers are filled mostly with pain and sorrow rather than laughter and amusement.

I nod and sit up, a wave of dizziness overcoming me. "Careful," the girl says gently, resting a hand on my back to steady me.

"Where am I?" I ask, putting a hand on my head. "Who are you?"

"The location that we are currently at is unknown. My name is Rachel Elizabeth Dare. R-A-C-H-E-L E-L-I-Z-A-B-E-T-H D-A-R-E. But you were probably asking who as in 'of what character, origin, position, importance,' and other things like that. So let me tell you that I am now a character in the story that is your life. I do not know whether I am a good character or a bad character because that is up to you to decide. My origin is in this very city, New York. My father was a wealthy man who owns more than half of New York and my mother was only interested in his money. Once I came into the picture they sold me to a man which brings up the next answer: my position. I do not know who this man is yet. All I know is that his minion's title is Gabriel. So my position is probably prisoner or slave. And my importance is irrelevant for you to know. Now it is your turn Annabeth Chase, who are you?"

The way the girl spoke was very odd. It seemed as if she had rehearsed what she was going to tell me over and over again. I looked around the small room we were in which gave me the impression that she probably had rehearsed it while I was unconscious. The room was very dim and only had a bed seated on the side. A bowl lies near the steel door that looked to be locked at least ten times from the outside. A small window brings in the tiniest speck of light.

I sighed and brought my gaze back to Rachel. "Annabeth Chase. What character: Unknown. Origin: New York. Mother was Athena Olympian whom is now deceased. Father was Frederick Chase whom is now competing for the title of: World's worst father! Position: Unknown, probably prisoner. Importance: Well, let's just keep things simple and say I have none."

Rachel's eyebrows knit together in a scowl as she studied my face. After a couple of minutes she retrieved a blue notebook from under the pillow that sat behind me. She flipped through a couple of pages before looking back and forth several times from me and back to the notebook. "Why do you say you have no importance? You have friends like Piper and Percy who would surely miss you if you were to disappear, am I wrong?"

I opened my mouth to argue but Rachel held up a hand and continued. "Then my point is proven, you have importance. Now tell me Annabeth Chase, what do you see here?"

She shoved her notebook into my hands, forcing me to look at the picture on the page. What I saw was a sketch of a girl. Her face took up the entire page but what worried me most is how similar she looked to me. Her striking eyes had no color but you could tell by the shading of them that they were supposed to be a grey color. Curls fell over her circular face, casting light shadows on her cheekbones. Her mouth was partially open as if she was trying to say something but the words got stuck. But no matter how hard I tried to focus on the other elements of the picture, the striking eyes kept pulling me back. They were filled with fear and worry.

"Me." I simply stated as I continued to look down in awe at the picture.

"That is correct. Now flip the page and tell me what you see." Rachel ordered her voice still soft and gentle.

I did as I was told and turned the page. On this it appeared to be raining. A girl stood under a tree, her curls gliding in the wind as she intensely stared at the tree. Her fists were clenched by her side as she looked up onto the hilltop where the tree stood tall and elegantly. A rope was tied onto the tree and on the other end of that rope was a person. The person's feet had to be a couple feet off the ground as the body glided gently in the wind. The person was a boy with shaggy black hair and as soon as I recognized him, I slammed the book shut.

"What the hell was that?" I demanded, clenching my fists at my side.

"What did you see?" Rachel asked, obviously not fazed by my anger.

"I saw Percy hanging from that tree. Why the hell would you draw that? How do you know who I am and how do you know who Percy is?" I felt my face turn a dark shade of scarlet as I gave Rachel a harsh look.

"That is irrelevant." Rachel stated as if it was obvious.

"I don't fucking care if it's relevant or not!" I screamed at her. "You better give me some answers before I snap your neck! I was already framed for one murder and I could honestly care less if I took part in one."

"Calm yourself. I'm not the enemy here. I'm trying to help you Annabeth Chase which is why I gave you the book in the first place. I finished filling the pages up a week ago. Gabriel should be back tomorrow morning to take you to your house were you will meet your brother. You will spend the rest of the weekend with him and then you will be taken back to the institution. You will tell your brother nothing about this. Once you arrive at the institution, keep my journal near you. It is more important than you realize. It tells your story. I can see into the future Annabeth Chase. I have a gift and so did your mother and your brother and your father and you have it as well. You just need to find it. Keep the journal near you so that you don't end up like me, rotting in a cell, having your gift go to waste.

"Now sleep Annabeth Chase, for your journey is only beginning and you still have a long way to travel."

As soon as the words left her mouth, I was thrown back against the pillow and my eyes shut, pulling me into a deep sleep. Unfortunately, it was not a dreamless sleep.

…Ω…

"_The clock is slowly ticking… Finding your journeys end… The clock is slowly ticking… No need to attempt to fix your fate… For the clock is slowly ticking… Don't trust that dearest friend… The clock is slowly ticking… Why, isn't midnight just great!?"_

_The words implant themselves into my brain, not really having a meaning. _

_ The rain pours from the dark sky above. A girl stands in front of a tree. Her hair glides in the wind and is damp from the rain. As soon as her face comes into view, I realize that the girl is me. Her stormy grey eyes look broken, as if she had been through a lot of pain. Her face was gaunt and her cheeks were hallow. She looked as if she could have once been beautiful but she had been through too much. All of the pain and sorrow had worn her beauty away. _

_A bright red umbrella is gripped tightly in her hands, so tight that her knuckles are white. "He took everything," Her voice says in a monotone. _

_My view shifts from the girl to the tree in front of her. On the tree hang my mother, my father, my step mother, my two stepbrothers, and Percy. _

"_I did this," a cool but familiar voice whispers into my ear. I feel the person standing behind me, his body big and bulky. A cold hand brushes the hair in front of my shoulder behind it, his hand lingering on my cheek for a second. His cold breath hits my neck, sending shivers down my spine. "Now that everyone's out of the picture, we can be together Annie. I'm sorry it had to be this way but they had to die." _

_That's when it hits me; the voice is Malcom's. _

…Ω…

"Annie you okay?" a voice asks. I gasp and look around, realizing that I'm in Malcom's car.

"Yeah, just a bad dream," I reply. I'm sitting in the passenger seat next to Malcom, Rachel's journal sits on my lap, daring me to open it. But I know that I can't until I'm alone.

"You excited to finally see dad after all this time?" he asks.

I nod and turn my gaze from the notebook to out the window. I watch as we pass the houses of all my childhood friends that probably don't even remember that I exist. We finally reach the big brick house on the corner. Malcom parks in the garage and I take a deep breath as I walk in the house while Malcom gets my bags.

The familiar aroma of coffee and honey fills my nostrils as I walk into the house. A smile covers my face as I look around. Everything is almost exactly the same. I hug Rachel's notebook closer to my chest as I walk into the living room.

A lady with brown hair and brown eyes sits on the couch, her hand on my father's knee. They appear to be talking to someone who sits on the opposite couch. Her eyes widen as she looks at me. "I'll be right back," she says before leaving the living room and rushing to my side. "No offense darling but you look terrible and we have company over so let me fix you up a bit." She gives me a sympathetic look and I want to be angry with her but I know that she is just trying to help.

She ushers me to my bedroom and closes the door. "Allow me to introduce myself, I don't think we've officially met. My name is Helen." She says before rushing over to my closet which is filled with clothes. "Once I heard you were coming for a visit I got very excited. I've lived with a house full of boys since I married your father and was excited when he mentioned I would get to meet you. I think it's tragic what happened to your mother and I am so sorry. Oh and I kind of went overboard with the clothes, I didn't know what you liked. I've been begging your father to let you come over but he said something about Malcom still blaming you… I don't remember!" She laughs and throws something on the bed. She grabs a blue dress from the closet and hands it to me. "Here put this on."

She rushes out of the room and I quickly change into the dress. It's a light blue and falls to mid-thigh. I study myself in the mirror that stands against my wall. I bite my bottom lip as I study the girl who already looks so different from me. I quickly put on my navy blue converse that sits in the closet. I smile as I look at myself, this time looking a bit more like me.

Helen comes back in the room and smiles at me. "You look beautiful already. But that hair… let's fix it up a bit… and then we'll put a bit of makeup on."

I shake my head. "I'm sorry Helen but no makeup."

She nods and smiles. "You're right; your face is too pretty for makeup." She comes up behind me and begins to weave my hair in to a braid.

"There," she smiles, admiring me. "Now let's go introduce you to Hermes and Luke. Oh, you're going to love Luke!"

I nodded and bit my bottom lip as I walked to the living room. Malcom now sat on the couch next to my dad and started laughing when he saw me. "Oh gods you got Annie into a dress!"

I scowl at him, "Shut up." Then I remember what Helen had said about him not forgiving me yet for my mother's death. Did Malcom blame me as well? I quickly push the thought aside and stare at my father.

My father stands up and smiles at me. He runs towards me, wrapping his arms around me and spinning me around. Then I understand that he wants to play the perfect family in front of whoever these people are.

"I've missed you so much. I'm so glad you're back from boarding school." My father says as he parts from me.

Boarding school? And then it hits me, he doesn't want people knowing about the dysfunctional family he has.

"I've missed you too dad. Uh who are these people?" I ask, looking at the two men who sit on our couch.

The younger one looks at me with interest. As he stands up and comes to my side. "I'm Luke; would you be so kind as to accompany me on a walk?"

"Uh, sure." And so I loop my arm through Luke's and we go to his car.

* * *

**(A/N: I know this chapter sucked but I'm having really bad writers block for this story and I felt terrible for not updating so please bear with me. Oh, and by the way, I know I mentioned Luke asking Thalia on a date in the first chapter but keep in mind that they aren't bf/gf and Annabeth doesn't know who Luke is because she's been in a mental hospital. Anyways, review maybe?) **


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

The car ride to the park was silent. I didn't really want to talk much anyways, so I looked out the window, in awe of everything about the town that I had grown up in. It had changed so much in just a couple of years; it seemed to have a new aura of gloom and anger. It certainly had changed more than I had. I noticed that everything was so different about his place when nothing was different about me.

When we arrived at the park, I smiled weakly and hopped out of his car. I was taken aback a bit by how cold it was. The wind blew nasty, cold air at my exposed legs and arms with such fury that all of the hairs of my legs and arms stood up and goosebumps suddenly appeared on my skin. My arms were suddenly shielded from the cold air as Luke draped his jacket over my arms.

I muttered a quick thank you before walking alongside him through the meadow-like park. We finally sat down once we found a warm spot. It was in a patch of daisies and was shielded from the wind by a giant willow tree. It gave off the impression of a fairy tale which I found ironic because I was the complete opposite of a princess with my scars and dreadful background.

I sat with my back against the tree, plucking the petals off of a daisy, trying to look deep in thought, desperately hoping that Luke won't attempt to start a conversation.

"You do realize their intentions right?" He asked with a smirk as he lay on his elbow in the grass. I looked up from my daisy and met his blue eyes. "They expect us to meet and fall in love and get married so that they have a reason to join their businesses together. They don't realize how many flaws are in their plan though. Reality isn't a fairy tale. Love at first sight doesn't exist and there's something called falling out of the sick illusion called love."

"Okay," I finally said after letting his words settle in my mind.

"Look, Annabeth," he said, continuing. "I know you didn't go to that stupid boarding school, I know you have been in an institution all this time, and I know that you didn't kill your mother. Now for the things you don't know. I have been in love with you since the moment I saw you in kindergarten. I haven't fallen out of the daze yet. You should also know that I'm in love with your best friend Thalia Grace as well."

I didn't know what to say. I thought it was really sweet of him to say what he did, but also kind of messed up that he was in love with another girl- my best friend. Also, his mentions of the institution and my mother made me want to panic or scream. I wasn't used to people talking so casually about these things. Usually people talked about my mother's death and my institutionalization with pity and sorrow. He said it with so much arrogance and nonchalance that it made my insides twist and turn.

"That's, um, really sweet but can we just change the subject-" I tried to ask him.

"Annabeth, I know this all sounds really crazy, but I know that you didn't kill your mom. First of all the evidence that makes it look like you killed her is totally faked. I mean the knife was supposedly run through a scan that searches for fingerprints, and they said that-"

I cut him off, just as he cut me off. "Luke. Stop." My voice was shaky and quiet, even though I tried to make myself sound strong.

He just kept going on and on after that, and I didn't have the heart to stop him. All I could do was sit there and try to ignore him while fixing my eyes on the daisies on the ground, which I wanted to violently pluck out of their homes in the grass and tear apart for some reason. I could feel my heart pounding, and hear the beat of it in my ears. Everything around me suddenly became blurred, but whether it was from tears or just because my mind was becoming foggy was unknown to me. All I knew was that I was about to snap; I was on the verge on another one of my breakdowns.

Suddenly I was putting my hands over my ears and screaming and sobbing as if to drown out a painful sound, even though the park was silent. Even though I couldn't hear it, I could tell that Luke stopped in the middle of his sentence to stare at me like the freak I was. At the time, I didn't really care. I didn't care that Luke would probably now truly believe that I was crazy. All I cared about was trying to make the flood of images inside my mind go away, along with the pain that had started out as a dull ache but had escalated into something awful.

The memories going through my head were all of my mother. My thoughts of her, which were usually foggy yet sharp, were even sharper and were this time vivid and realistic. In my mind, her voice soothed me and her arms wrapped around me, and it felt too real for me to handle. I wanted my mom with me again. I didn't want to be with Luke, or in the mental institution, or anywhere else. Why couldn't I just be with her? Why couldn't I just have died too, that day?

People were starting to notice me. They walked towards us, concern taking over their emotions and expressions, and started talking to Luke. All I saw was their mouths moving; I couldn't hear anything coming out, though. There was nothing I could hear but my screaming.

As cars pulled up and people ran out and came over to us, I started shaking like a leaf. My sobs had stopped, and I wasn't screaming anymore, at least. I was done with that. I was moving onto the next phase of a mental breakdown; the phase where you can speak, but all that comes out is nonsense.

"I didn't do it," I whispered, my eyes wide, as everyone started to ask if I was okay. I repeated the statement about ten times before the words starting mushing together and become one word, which I started yelling. People's hands desperately tried to restrain me to the floor as I thrashed and screamed "NO!" repeatedly.

Then my brothers face was in front of my own. It comforted me and I finally stopped screaming. I might have a while ago, the memories of the event was just to muddled for me to remember. His lips were moving but I couldn't make out anything that he was saying. My eyes suddenly felt heavy and as much as I tried to resist, they finally closed.

When my consciousness finally came around, I was lying down on a bed. It wasn't my bed at the institute so of course I began to panic. My heart was beating rapidly as I shot straight up and looked around at my surroundings. I was in my room at my father's house. Malcom was sitting in the corner of the room on a rocking chair. It was rocking violently and quickly and my brother appeared to be deeply in thought. Tears pricked the corners of his blue grey eyes as he stared intently at the wall.

He noticed me sitting up and scowled at me. "Annie, why can't you at least attempt to be normal for once?" His tone was cold. "It's all your fault that their gone."

I stared at him with confusion. "That who's gone?" I asked.

"They would still be here if you hadn't had that mental breakdown in the middle of the park." He said, ignoring my previous question.

"Malcom," I began. "Who is gone? What happened?"

"You really do belong with those people. I thought you were different from them Annie. I thought that I believed that you didn't kill mom but now I'm starting to doubt it. It's all your fault Annabeth!" He was shouting at me now, his face bright red with anger. His fists were balled at his sides as he hovered over me. It was as if he was restraining himself from slapping me.

"Malcom what happened?" I pleaded.

"You fucking happened. Because of you, we had to leave the house to go pick you up. We left Bobby and Mathew here because they were taking a nap. We were so convinced that they would be fine. We come back with you, and guess what, they are gone! Whenever you're around, something bad seems to happen. I'm driving you back to the institution in an hour. This was your one chance to come back. Dad finally agreed to let you stay for a weekend to see if you had gotten better and you ruined it."

"It was Luke's fault! He kept talking about mom's death and I couldn't handle it!" I insisted.

"You just need to stay with those nut cases you call friends. You obviously belong there."

"Go away," I quietly said. I didn't want to hear another word about what my brother had to say. "And send Helen up here, I would like a word with her."

Malcom nodded and left without another word.

I sat on the bed and pulled my owl comforter up to my chest. It was the exact same one that I had when I first lived here with my mother. It still smelled like her lemony scent that I always loved. A memory of her and I sitting on my bed together reading overcame me as I sat there.

"'_And the Prince and the Princess lived happily ever after'," my mother said, pulling me close to her. I frowned at the book which caused my mother to laugh. "What's wrong Annie? You always seem to get upset after we read this book." _

"_Happily ever after's don't exist mommy," Seven year old me insisted. _

"_I think they do, your father and I are happy together. He is my prince," my mother told me with a smile. _

"_Mommy that's gross," I said sticking my tongue out. _

_She just laughed at me. "Oh, soon enough you'll be in love. But on a rare occasion, happily ever after's do exist Annie. And I know you'll get yours sooner or later." _

Helen's face appeared in my doorway, snapping me out of my thoughts. Her eyes were bloodshot, puffy, and had bags under them as if she had been up for three days.

I gestured for her to join me on my bed and she shyly sat down next to me.

"Helen, what did you mean earlier when you said that Malcom still blamed me?" I asked.

Her eyes shifted down to her hands. "Well… when your father and I first met, he told me about you. He spoke highly of you, telling me how pretty and smart that you were. Then he said that you were at an institution. He said that you had a hard time coping with your mother's death and tried to kill yourself. He said that you came up with this scenario in your head that you had been framed for her murder when in reality you just found her dead when you came home from school. He said that whenever you visited that you would scream at him and so eventually he just stopped visiting. Then I asked about how Malcom was coping with you being gone. Your father had told me that he blamed you. Malcom had told your father that you were crazy and stupid and he didn't feel safe with you around. He said that Malcom said that you killed your mother. That it was your entire fault."

It took me a second to process her words. Had I actually come up with a fake scenario in my head? Was my mind playing tricks on me? Why did Malcom blame me? And more importantly, why did I believe everything he told me? Was everything my father told Helen a lie or the truth? At that point, I was beginning to question that I had ever known about my life.

**(A/N: I am so sorry that this took so long to publish. I haven't felt inspired at all to write anything so bear with me. I'm sorry that this chapter isn't as long as the rest are, it's just I wanted to get this published for you guys because I have felt terrible about not updating. I literally spent all day writing this for you guys. A huge thanks to HGF34567 who helped me write this. If it wasn't for her I don't know how I would continue most of my stories. So review maybe and let me know what you thought? Oh, an in case you guys get confused, Helen doesn't hate Annabeth in this fic because it's fanfiction and it doesn't have to be exactly like the books. Sorry if this chapter was a bit confusing, things will clear up in the next couple chapters. Sorry for the long AN, I'll stop rambling now!) **


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